I know some of you are shocked reading this and let me put your fears to rest, Shattered is not dead..it just smells funny. HAHA. Actually, Shattered is on a bit of a break until The summer. Our singer, Matt is so swamped with school becoming an English teacher, and since it is his last year before prepping as a student aid, he has to read 44 books by May, *36 being complete novels* so understandably, he has no time to play shows or practice. And the other reason being Beast's other band, *where he plays bass* American Gothic just got a huge offer that I can't disclose yet, but odds are if everything is set in stone, you might be seeing him on the road for anywhere between 2 weeks and 2 months. Also Jake, our bassist is very busy at his job and this fall he will be going to school to become a police officer. I'm pretty pumped for him. So before I go on I just wanna say Shattered will still be going and our album will be out eventually.

Anyways,

Last Saturday when there's was some conflicts going on, the bassist of a band I've known and respected in the local scene for the last few years, Tears Of Ash asks me to audition for his band and gave me 4 instrumental tracks.......I WAS FUCKING SCARED! Their ex-drummer is actually a good friend of mine and competed with me in the Guitar Center Drum Off back in September and he is an INSANE drummer. People always tell me around my area that we are the two best drummers around, which is a huge compliment, I think he's better then me, he thinks I'm better then him. So it's an equal drummer respect thing. But Today I nailed all 4 songs the best I could and they dug it and asked me to join the band.

3 of the songs are posted online on their Facebook page which I'll post at the end of this *the first one is pretty damn insane, the songs on the page are constantly changing. So expect 4 different ones up pretty soon*. But these guys, in my eyes are one of the best bands in the Twin Cities because they aren't Deathcore, which is quickly taking over The Twin Cities. Tears Of Ash are all over the board when it comes to Metal, while many people will come across it as Metalcore, I can kinda see it, but when you hear the full album, you'll realize it is so much more.

The guitarist and I even worked out the structure for 2 new songs today, and that was before I even got the official word I was in the band. One has an Ultra Brutal beginning and pretty metal through out, and the other is a Devin Townsend/Dream Theater inspired Prog Metal Masterpiece that will end up on the 2nd album which I'll be playing on.

But anyways, check out Tears OF Ash on Facebook, like the page, check out the music and let me know what you think.

At first I thought it was above my skill level until I actually sat down and played along with it and I gotta admit, as hard as it is to play, it's so much damn fun.

They constantly change songs on the facebook page so eventually all the songs will have been be on the music player at some point. I wish they would have kept up the song that scared me the most, Last October. That song is pretty damn brutal on drums, but it is so much fun to play.

At first I thought it was above my skill level until I actually sat down and played along with it and I gotta admit, as hard as it is to play, it's so much damn fun.

They constantly change songs on the facebook page so eventually all the songs will have been be on the music player at some point. I wish they would have kept up the song that scared me the most, Last October. That song is pretty damn brutal on drums, but it is so much fun to play.

I'll keep an eye out for that one. If it's as intricate as The Broken I'm sure I'd like it

I'll keep an eye out for that one. If it's as intricate as The Broken I'm sure I'd like it

I'd say almost every song is as intricate as The Broken. Songs like Hide And Seek, Sacred, Last October. Basically the ones that aren't up right now. The album should be out relatively soon. They want to wait till all 4 of us have the album down and are able to play it live, Then have a big CD release show and take it from there.